A MODERN German writer has well said: "The birth of heathenism may be dated from
the moment when the presumptuous statement was uttered, 'Go to, let us build a city and a
tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name.'" Even Josephus,
the ancient Jewish historian, regards Nimrod as the father of heathenism, the
characteristic of which is to find strength and happiness in sin, and not in God. Its
essential principle is to reject all that is not seen, and to cling to that which is
temporal. Thus we also may be heathens in heart, even though we are not such in mind, and
do not worship stocks or stone. Indeed, it is very remarkable, that neither nation nor
tribe has ever been discovered which did not acknowledge and worship some superior Being;
and yet from the most savage barbarians to the most refined philosopher, they have all
been destitute of the knowledge of the one living and true God. The only exception in the
world has been that of Israel, to whom God specially revealed Himself; and even Israel
required constant teaching, guidance, and discipline from on high to keep them from
falling back into idolatry. Idolatry is the religion of sight in opposition to that of
faith. Instead of the unseen Creator, man regarded that which was visible - the sun, the
moon, the stars - as the cause and the ruler of all; or he assigned to everything its
deity, and thus had gods many and lords many; or else he converted his heroes, real or
imaginary, into gods. The worship of the heavens, the worship of nature, or the worship of
man - such is heathenism and idolatry. And yet all the while man felt the insufficiency of
his worship, for behind these gods he placed a dark, immovable, unsearchable Fate, which
ruled supreme, and controlled alike gods and men. It was indeed a terrible exchange to
make - to leave our heavenly Father and His love for such delusions and disappointments.
The worst of it was, that man gradually became conformed to his religion. He first imputed
his own vices to his gods, and next imitated the vices of his gods. Assuredly, the heathen
nations were the younger son in the parable (Luke 15:12), who had left his father's house
with the portion of goods that belonged to him - heathen science, art, literature, and
power - to find himself at the last driven to eat the husks on which the swine do feed,
and yet not able to satisfy the cravings of his hunger! Blessed be God for that revelation
of Himself in Christ Jesus, which has brought the prodigal back to the Father's home and
heart!

But even so, God did not leave Himself without a witness. The inward searching of man
after a God, the accusing voice of his conscience, the attempt to offer sacrifices, and
the remnants of ancient traditions of the truth among men - all seemed to point upward.
And then, as all were not Israel who were of Israel, so God also had at all times His own,
even among the Gentile nations. Job, Melchizedek, Rahab, Ruth, Naaman, may be mentioned as
instances of this. It will be readily understood that the number of those "born out
of season," as it were, from among the Gentiles, must have been largest the higher we
ascend the stream of time, and the nearer we approach the period when early traditions
were still preserved in their purity in the earth. The fullest example of this is set
before us in the book of Job, which also gives a most interesting picture of those early
times.

Two things may be regarded as quite settled about the book of Job. Its scene and actors
are laid in patriarchal times, and outside the family or immediate ancestry of Abraham. It
is a story of Gentile life in the time of the earliest patriarchs. And yet anything more
noble, grand, devout, or spiritual than what the book of Job contains is not found,
"no, not in Israel." This is not the place to give either the history of Job, or
to point out the depth of thought, the vividness of imagery, and the beauty and grandeur
of language with which it is written. It must suffice to take the most rapid survey of the
religious and social life which it sets before us. Without here referring to the sayings
of Elihu, Job had evidently perfect knowledge of the true God; and he was a humble,
earnest worshipper of Jehovah. Without any acquaintance with "Moses and the
prophets," he knew that of which Moses and the prophets spoke. Reverent, believing
acknowledgment of God, submission, and spiritual repentance formed part of his experience,
which had the approval of God Himself. Then Job offered sacrifices; he speaks about the
great tempter; he looks for the resurrection of the body; and he expects the coming of
Messiah.

We have traced the barest outlines of the religion of Job. The friends who come to him,
if they share not his piety, at least do not treat his views as something quite strange
and previously unheard. This, then, is a blessed picture of at least a certain class in
that age. How far culture and civilization must have advanced in those times we gather
from various allusions in the book of Job. Job himself is a man of great wealth and high
rank. In the language of a recent writer:*

"The chieftain lives in considerable splendor and dignity. . . . Job visits the
city frequently, and is there received with high respect as a prince, judge, and
distinguished warrior. (Job 29:7,9) There are allusions to courts of justice, written
indictments, and regular forms of procedure. (Job 13:26; 31:28) Men had begun to observe
and reason upon the phenomena of nature, and astronomical observations were connected with
curious speculations upon primeval traditions. We read of mining operations, great
buildings, ruined sepulchers. . . . Great revolutions had occurred within the time of the
writer; nations, once independent, had been overthrown, and whole races reduced to a state
of misery and degradation."

* Canon Cook, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 1, p. 1097.

Nor ought we to overlook the glimpses of social life given us in this history. While,
indeed, there was violence, robbery, and murder in the land, there is happily also another
side to the picture. "When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared
my seat in the street, the young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose and
stood up." Along with such becoming tribute of respect paid to worth, we find that
the relationship between the pious rich and the poor is thus described: "When the ear
heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: because I
delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The
blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to
sing for joy." Assuredly there is nothing in all this which we could wish to see altered even in New
Testament times! But the more terrible in contrast must have been the idolatry and the
corruption of the vast majority of mankind; an idolatry which they had probably inherited
from before the flood, and which soon attained gigantic proportions, and a corruption
which went on ever increasing during the "times of this ignorance."